This invention relates to wire processing apparatus, and in particular to such apparatus that are provided for stripping insulation from wire, and for automatic control of the length of the stripped wire end and automated compensation for the size of the wire being processed.
Generally, wire processing apparatus such as that disclosed in the Dusel et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,621, include stations for carrying out various steps in the process of converting spools of wire to terminated wire leads. These steps may include cutting the wire to predetermined lengths, stripping the insulation from one or both ends of the wire, tinning or applying solder to the stripped wire ends, and applying terminal connectors.
Various devices have been provided for accomplishing these steps, and particularly referring to the step of stripping the insulation from the wire. For instance, the Andren U.S. Pat. No. 2,871,740, shows an early apparatus for automatically stripping a hand-fed wire. Another example of an apparatus for stripping wire leads is shown in the Gudmestad U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,281.
In both of these cases, however, extensive adjustments were required to be made manually whenever it was desired to change the type of wire if such change had the effect of changing the thickness of the insulation or of the conductor itself, or if it was desired to change the length of the portion of wire end which was stripped. This manual adjustment procedure resulted in substantial down time and lost production, both because of the time required to make the adjustment and because of the inexactness of the adjustment itself, which required readjustment until the setting was within predetermined tolerances. Hence, while automatic alteration of these parameters had always been desirable, such automatic control has not been accomplished by prior art devices.
This invention relates to improvements over existing apparatus as set forth above and to solutions to the problems raised thereby.